Forgiveness
by Ayame4679
Summary: Losing his father and abruptly being given the chieftain role has taken its toll on Hiccup. And one day, he snaps. Short one-shot post HTTYD2. Sorry, no Astrid or teens in this story, it's centered around Hiccup and Toothless.


**(A/N: Yeah, so sorry this isn't an update of my other stories, but after Dragon's Day yesterday, I just wanted to write something related to HTTYD2. It's kind of meh, sorry.)**

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><p>His head was pounding from overexertion and his entire body ached of exhaustion, but he never let the smile slide off his face as he made another round through the village. The amount of work that needed to be done as chief was almost overwhelming, requests and complaints intermixed in a terrible combination that quickly became a heavy weight on his shoulders. How his dad managed to keep his head while running the village so smoothly was beyond him.<p>

His stomach tugged at the thought of his dad, and he felt the familiar burst of grief and regret exploding in his chest, just as it had been plaguing him for days. It was all becoming too much; he needed to get away for a little, to be alone.

Thankfully, none of the villagers approached him as he made his way back home. Be it out of pity or merely a lack of questions, he didn't care. He pulled open the door to his house and stepped inside, shutting out the noisy chatter of Vikings and dragons clambering past behind him.

"Is something wrong?" His mother's voice startled him, not having expected her to be in the house at this time of day. She usually went flying with Cloudjumper or played with the baby dragons before it got too dark outside, but today she was sitting on the edge of a chair near the fireplace, gazing at him steadily.

Toothless, who had been waiting at home per Hiccup's request, eagerly jumped to his feet at the sight of him and bounded over excitedly. Hiccup forced a small grin as he tiredly scratched the back of Toothless' ear, trying to ignore the steady pounding in his head.

He sighed quietly, shaking his head. "I'm just tired."

She didn't drop the matter like he'd hoped, staring at him intently for a long minute for asking, "Is there anything else?"

A bit of anger lit up inside him, growing tired of all these questions. "No, and if there was, I don't want to talk about it." Saying that he wasn't able to handle these chieftain responsibilities was weak. Saying that he missed his dad so much he didn't want to leave the house was weak. He wasn't allowed to be weak anymore, not with the village as his responsibility.

He longed to go upstairs, and was about to head for his room when his mom spoke again, this time more quietly.

"I miss him, too."

Those words hurt more than anything else she could have said to him, and the ball of grief in his chest intensified. He shut his eyes, drawing in a ragged breath as he tried to compose himself. He wouldn't break down here. He wouldn't.

He urged himself to walk up the stairs, barely noticing Toothless trailing happily behind him. His mom didn't stop him, but even if she had, he wouldn't have listened.

The door to his room shut with a heavy thud, and Hiccup collapsed onto the side of his bed, his head in his hands. He was so, so tired. Toothless seemed overexcited today, probably for his sake. The Night Fury eagerly approached Hiccup, licking his cheek playfully. An invitation to play.

"Not today, Toothless." He mumbled tiredly, not bothering to lift his head.

Toothless cooed, persistently nudging at his side. Usually, he gave in and wrestled with the dragon playfully before they tired themselves out, but today was not one of those days.

He needed to finish rounding the village, making sure the villagers had no more problems for the night. The thought alone exhausted him, and the overpowering longing for his father suddenly had his eyes stinging with unshed tears.

Toothless stubbornly continued in trying to rouse Hiccup, nudging at his knee and purring questioningly, wanting to cheer him up. But the gesture only served to have the opposite effect, and Hiccup snapped.

He abruptly got to his feet, rounding on Toothless. "Stop! This is all your fault!" Toothless immediately retreated a few steps backwards, but Hiccup couldn't stop the words from tumbling out in the midst of his frustration and sorrow.

"It's your fault he died!"

Hiccup's voice faltered, realizing the gravity of what he'd just said. His eyes stung, but the tears never fell as he watched Toothless' eyes dilate in guilt and shock.

All the anger melted away, leaving only horror at what he'd just done. He took a step forward, but Toothless backtracked instantly, his coos replaced with a sad warble.

"Bud…" His voice shook uncertainly, and Toothless suddenly bolted out the door and down the stairs. He heard him bursting out the front doors, but couldn't find the strength to follow.

That was how his mom found him – standing alone next to his bed, staring at a spot on the ground with disbelief and grief shining in his eyes. She silently made her way in front of him, resting both of her hands on his shoulders. He flinched slightly when she made contact with him, but made no effort to meet her eyes.

"Hiccup," she began quietly. "You know it's not his-"

"I know." Hiccup interrupted, not letting her finish the sentence. He finally looked up, and her heart pained to see the amount of sadness and pain buried beneath his eyes.

She pulled him into a hug, not faltering even when he made no response to return it. When she finally released him from her embrace, she took a step back and bent slightly to meet his eyes, which had redirected themselves back onto the floor.

"I'll finish checking with the village and the villagers." She instructed, making sure he heard every word. He nodded wearily, lifting his head enough that she could straighten back up to her normal height.

"I'm going to go find Toothless." Hiccup said, a bit of light finally making its way into his eyes.

She nodded in approval, turning and heading downstairs to finish Hiccup's chieftain duties.

Hiccup stood for a minute longer, taking a deep breath and steadying himself before echoing his mother's footsteps out the door. He took a detour towards the woods and found himself instinctively navigating towards the place he and Toothless knew so well: the cove.

Spotting Toothless wasn't that difficult, the dragon having curled up in a ball at the center of the cove, his black scales easily setting him apart from the soft green grass he lay in.

Surely he had heard Hiccup making his way down past the rocks through an opening into the cove, but Toothless made no movement to show he did. He stumbled past stray rocks and finally knelt in front of the Night Fury, unsure of what to say.

"Toothless." Hiccup saw an ear twitch at his voice, and he took the moment to keep talking. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gotten mad at you." No movement. "It wasn't your fault."

At his last sentence, Toothless just curled up into a tighter ball, a muffled warble making its way past his wings. Clearly he didn't believe it.

"It wasn't, bud." He paused, feeling all the guilt resurfacing up to the surface. "It was mine. I thought I could fix everything, but I just made things worse." His eyes burned with tears again, and he let them fall this time. "I shouldn't have blamed you, bud. It was never your fault."

While he spoke, Toothless never lifted his head from under his wing, but Hiccup caught the slight relaxation in the dragon's posture as he continued to talk.

"Toothless, look at me." Instantly, the Night Fury tensed up again, but Hiccup wasn't having any of that. He leaned forward and gently lifted one wing and placed a hand on his head. Toothless froze at the touch, but slowly lifted his head to meet his rider's. His eyes were wide with sorrow, mirroring Hiccup's.

Hiccup let his hand gingerly pet Toothless' head, ignoring the tears still building up in his eyes and slightly blurring his vision. "You're my best friend." He said, echoing the words he'd once said to the dragon not too long ago. His dad would never have blamed Toothless, never would have wanted him to let grief overtake his responsibilities.

After what felt like an eternity, Toothless finally leaned forward and gave Hiccup a small lick on the cheek, sending a wave of relief flooding over him. He leaned forward and gave Toothless a hug, doing everything he could to show he really did forgive him. The absence of his dad was still a heavy weight on his heart, but choosing to remember him instead of grieving him made the weight feel lighter.

Toothless watched him silently, eyes still slightly tinged with sadness as he let his head rest back onto his paws. Still unsure of whether he really deserved forgiveness.

Hiccup sighed, knowing what he had to do. Ignoring the ache in his legs from having been kneeling for so long, he crawled forward and lifted Toothless' wing a second time. He curled up next to Toothless and let the wing fall back over them. Toothless was still stiff with uncertainty, but Hiccup didn't let it discourage him.

"Not your fault. I'm sorry, bud." Hiccup whispered, waiting for Toothless to finally accept the apologies and wrap his paws around him like he always did when they would take the occasional nap together.

And after a long moment, Toothless did.


End file.
